Saturday, January 28, 2017

Reunions: I really am beginning to wonder if it will ever be finished. Current word count: 195,000.

Brief explanation:
My last couple of Rainbow Snippets have been George’s reflections on his and Josh’s relationship, so this time, I’ve gone with (one of) Josh’s (many) reflections. Note: if you’re reading the Hiding Behind The Couch series from the beginning, this contains a spoiler for anything before The Harder They Fall (Season Three) (Reunions is Season Seven).

Here’s the snippet:

We’re together. Josh laughed a little and shivered. These days, it felt as if they’d never been apart, but then, this was the calm after the storm: a week of hypomania, dip into hell bypassed. He felt happy and at peace, and he had the house to himself, which meant he could finally get on with his research.

Josh had wanted to use his heightened cognitions to escalate his investigation, but George had made him promise not to. It wasn’t George being mean or bossy; for as much as Josh revelled in the way his mind worked when hypomanic, once it had passed, he understood the danger of embracing it.

* * * * *

Rainbow Snippets is a group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week to share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation (no spoilers please!).

In this group you'll find anything from romance and historical fiction to mystery and YA. The common thread is that every story's main character identifies as LGBTQ+. The snippets could range from zero flames to full-on sexytimes, anything goes content-wise. The only rule is snippets will be 6 sentences long–one for each color in the Pride flag.

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

The current word count is 192,000! Forget what I said about being finished in 200k. Ain’t happenin’!

This scene follows on from last week’s WIPpet.

WIPpet Context:
Shaunna and Andy are an established couple with twin six-month-old daughters. It’s bedtime, and they’re talking to pass the time whilst Shaunna expresses breastmilk (she has something on her mind). Other characters mentioned in the snippet (Sean, Sophie, Josh and George) are some of their close friends; Josh is a psychotherapist. For readers of the series, this give a bit of a teaser of (some of) what’s in store in Season Seven. If you don’t want to know, look away now!

* * * * *

“Hmm.” There wasn’t a whole lot going on in their lives, but talking would stop her thinking and fretting. “Did I tell you about Sean and Sophie?”

Andy frowned. “Dunno.”

“Sophie’s going to London to do her PhD.”

“Ah. So that’s what’s up with him.”

“In what sense?” Shaunna asked.

“At footy. He’s a bit…”

“Moody?”

“Yeah. Short-tempered. It’s not like him.”

“He’ll be taking his frustrations out on the game.”

“They’ve not split up?”

“It’s…well, promise you won’t mock.”

“Me? That’s a bit uncalled for.”

“It’s not, Andy, because I know what you’re like about this kind of thing.”

“What kind of thing? He can’t get it up or something?”

“Exactly.”

“Poor bloke.”

“Yeah,” Shaunna agreed, surprised by Andy’s reaction. She’d expected him to go all out on the macho bragging. “It got me thinking about what I want to do with my psychology stuff.”

“Yeah?”

“I think I’d like to become a sex therapist.”

Andy nodded. When he said nothing further, Shaunna glanced down at him. His expression was a mix of bemusement and disbelief.

“Go on,” she said.

“I… What the hell is…” He cleared his throat. “Is it what it sounds like?”

“Well, Josh offers it, if that answers your question.”

“Not really.”

“Do you think George would be OK with Josh doing what you think a sex therapist does?”

“I dunno. He might be. If it’s for professional purposes.”

The picture formed in her head and Shaunna fell into a giggling fit that rendered her incapable of speech for long enough to finish expressing. She handed over the pump and the measly half-full bottle, which Andy took downstairs. When he returned, Shaunna had put her nightshirt on again but waited until he was back in bed before she lay down. Once she was comfortable, Andy switched off the light and cuddled up behind her.

“F-Y-I,” she said, “sex therapy is like marriage guidance and involves no sex—or not for the therapist, anyway. It’s talking through sex problems with the couple, or sometimes just one person on their own.”

“You’d be awesome,” Andy murmured.

* * * * *

What is WIPpet Wednesday?

WIPpet Wednesday is a blog hop where authors share from their current works in progress - expertly organised/hosted by Emily Witt - and the excerpt has to relate to the date in some way. For links to other fabulous authors' WIPpets, visit: http://www.inlinkz.com/wpview.php?id=355404

Blurb:
In the 23rd Century in the galaxy of Sigma Kappa, Kim Fortune was the
first surviving experimental enhanced human—a regenerate. Aged fifteen,
he escaped the lab and years later, his failings as a regenerate and the
suspicion of regular humans, leave him lonely and lacking in
self-worth. Stranded on an abandoned planet, the arrival of a stricken
ship and its crew give him hope that he may finally find what he always
longed for—love.

Christian Novak is a successful regenerate with all the intended
attributes—including lack of human emotion. Despite their immediate
attraction to each other, Kim's failing confidence, and Christian's
inability to empathize are a recipe for disaster. But war, imprisonment,
and danger throw them together, and after each saves the other's life,
their feelings begin to change.

Can a seemingly unsuitable pair ever find love, or is a future together destined to fail?

Review:
I'm going to lay it on the line here. I'm a Trekkie. I've seen (bar one or two) every episode of every Star Trek incarnation and every film at least once. I can greet you and swear at you in Klingon. I made Bajoran hasperat once, and for a year, I was a ship's counsellor in STRPG. I find Roddenberry's utopian vision uplifting (ignoring the Cardassian/Bajoran situation and Ferengi commerce culture for the time being) and I think it's awesome when Star Trek inventions become scientific reality.

I've also seen Star Wars 4, 5, 6, 1 and 2. I love Red Dwarf, and I've watched more episodes than I care to admit of Blake's 7, Battlestar Galactica and Andromeda.

That is pretty much the extent of my engagement with space-based sci-fi (which probably has an official name, but you know what I mean). I've never read Star Trek novels, and I've read next to no other space-based science fiction books, for one reason: the names are STUPIDLY unpronouncable to me. If I can't say a character's name (or the name of their home world) in my head, then I can't connect with the character.

I've mentioned it on my blog before, but it's a deficit of the way I learned to read (whole words rather than phonemes and syllables), and there are still a lot of words I get wrong when I say them aloud: bombardier, Arkansas, Yosemite, archipelago, to list but a few.

All of this is the context for my reading of Regeneration, the recent release from Louise Lyons, and let me say how DELIGHTED I was to find that the main characters are called...

Kim Fortune
Christian Novak

I can say BOTH of those. :)

I did have a bit of a problem with S.K.# for the planets, but I got the numbering straight fairly quickly. The name Immortasia is absolutely perfect for that nasty ole place, and Pardus is explained, so that made sense. I have no idea of the different planets' numbers now, but no matter. It's not necessary to understanding and enjoying the story. I got that Pardus is too hot, Immortasia is too cold and SK...the only one with three digits...is farther out and had lots of trees.

The world building is subtle and excellent. The caveat for that opinion is where I started. For anyone who has seen or read any popular space-based sci-fi, the principles of travel and the different kinds of habitable planet will be at once familiar, but there is enough explanation along the way for the complete sci-fi novice to pick it up, and the science fiction element isn't heavy-going. Regeneration is, for the most part, a character-driven story, where the two main characters happen to be enhanced humans in the Sigma Kappa galaxy (I'd expected a star system within the Milky Way galaxy, but I guess I was thinking too local).

The cast of characters is interesting, relatively diverse, and those of most significance are well developed. Kim Fortune starts off with an almost child-like innocence, and his biography before we pick up his story gives an insight into why this is. Christian Novak, on the other hand, has a very definite feel of the jaded rebel soldier. I'm particularly fond of Novak. He's a beefcake.

The writing is excellent, and the plot moves along at a good pace. I did experience a bit of a blip in this regard, which is related to my preferences as a reader. I found the shift in name use very off-putting. I understand why it happened, and it makes sense in context, but it did take me out of the story for a while. The other minor niggle I have - and I have absolutely no right to it, so I'm going to be honest, because it's a selling point for other readers - is that it's too 'MM Romance' for me, by which I mean the emphasis is on Kim and Novak's relationship and associated intimacy, which follows a fairly typical trajectory for the subgenre. There's nothing wrong with it - it's written very well - and the novel is clearly marked as Sci-fi/MM Romance, but I'd have been happy to see a few of the smaller 'mysteries' conclude and sacrifice some sexy time. Or both, maybe. Now I'm being greedy.

All in all, I really enjoyed this story. I read, write and edit mainly within contemporary subgenres, so it was a lovely and welcome change to read sci-fi, and well-written sci-fi at that, with characters whose names I could pronounce (++), natural world-building, strong female characters (for the most part) and a believable romance. I will most definitely be reading other stories by Louise Lyons. I'm still thinking now about Kim (trying to figure him out) and Novak (for far less innocent reasons - did I mention he's a beefcake?).

(Copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.)

Author Bio:
Louise Lyons comes from a family of writers. Her mother has a number of
poems published in poetry anthologies, her aunt wrote poems for the
church, and her grandmother sparked her inspiration with tales of
fantasy.

Louise first ventured into writing short stories at the grand old age of
eight, mostly about little girls and ponies. She branched into romance
in her teens, and MM romance a few years later, but none of her work saw
the light of day until she discovered FanFiction in her late twenties.
Posting stories based on some of her favourite movies, provoked a
surprisingly positive response from readers. This gave Louise the
confidence to submit some of her work to publishers, and made her take
her writing "hobby" more seriously.

Louise lives in the UK, about an hour north of London, with a mad dog
called Casper, collection of tropical fish and tarantulas. She works in
the insurance industry by day, and spends every spare minute writing.
She is a keen horse-rider, and loves to run long-distance. Some of her
best writing inspiration comes to her, when her feet are pounding the
open road. She often races home afterward, and grabs pen and paper to
make notes.

Saturday, January 21, 2017

Reunions: yep, I’m still writing that beast of a WIP. Today, the word count stands at 186,321, which means I’ve written 13,000 words in the past week and I’m still no closer to finishing it! That’s how it feels, at least, because I’ve been patching holes rather than moving towards the conclusion.

Brief explanation:
This snippet follows on from last week’s: George is thinking back to the verbal bullying he went through in high school, as well as his mum, who is much ‘lovelier’ than she comes across here. OK, she’s not that lovely, but she means well.

Here's the snippet:

Josh the boy genius, who remembered everything—every cruel and kind word spoken, every fight, argument, every mundane moment. All those times he’d recounted events of which George had no memory, yet when Josh had said those words, playing down the courage it had taken to stand up to Suzie Tyler, they had tattooed George’s brain.

You make me brave.

He wished he’d been braver. He wished he could have done as Kris had and come out at school, but his mum had a rough upbringing in a deprived inner-city housing estate, and she’d seen more than her fair share of violence—wife beaters, child abusers, gang wars, muggings, people attacked because of their skin colour or sexuality…the queens…

She’d actually said that to him once: ‘Don’t turn into one of them friggin’ queens!’

* * * * *

Rainbow Snippets is a group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week to share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation (no spoilers please!).

In this group you'll find anything from romance and historical fiction to mystery and YA. The common thread is that every story's main character identifies as LGBTQ+. The snippets could range from zero flames to full-on sexytimes, anything goes content-wise. The only rule is snippets will be 6 sentences long–one for each color in the Pride flag.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

The current word count on this beastie is 182,500! I think it’ll be finished in less than 200k, but don’t hold me to that.

I decided to go with this particular scene because daughter #2 brought her second tiny son home from hospital today. He was born six weeks early (tiny grandson #1 was twelve weeks early), and a short while ago, she was chatting to me on FaceTime whilst expressing, which she’s doing to keep her milk flow, and because tiny grandson #2 doesn’t like the right breast (I had this with daughter #1 – it’s rather fun to compare notes).

WIPpet Context: Shaunna and Andy are an established couple with twin six-month-old daughters. Just prior to this scene, Shaunna and Andy were…well, you can figure it out from the first line. ;)

* * * * *

“I’ll get the machine in a sec,” he slurred, drunk on sex hormones.

“Don’t worry about it. They don’t need me anymore.”

“Whoa.” Andy lifted on one arm, instantly wide awake again. He switched arms and peered down at her through the almost dark. “What d’you mean? The girls don’t need you?”

Andy moved to her side and fed his hand under her neck, drawing her close and kissing her head. “Talk to me, RHB.”

“It’s nothing sinister,” she lied. It was true her milk was dwindling, and expressing had become a chore she could do without. [spoiler removed] “Can I have the breast pump, please.”

“Sure.” Andy went to get it from the other side of the room. Shaunna switched on the lamp and watched his glutes ripple as he bent and stretched to gather everything. He turned and came back, smirking when he saw her face.

“He doesn’t talk,” he said, pointing down.

Shaunna grinned and took the breast pump from him.

Andy settled in the bed beside her with his arm under his head. “It’s still amazing.”

“What is?”

“All that milk.”

“Yeah, but cows? Look how much they produce.”

“Cows are awesome.”

“You are so weird sometimes.”

“In a sexy way.”

“Of course!” Shaunna leaned back and closed her eyes. “I could fall asleep like this.”

“Sleep if you need to. I’ll pack up when you’re done.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I will fall asleep for real.” She opened one eye and peered at him. “You’re still wide awake.”

“Yep. Why? Did you want to talk?”

“Not necessarily. Did you?”

“Nah. Unless you’ve got anything interesting to tell me.”

* * * * *

What is WIPpet Wednesday?

WIPpet Wednesday is a blog hop where authors share from their current works in progress - expertly organised/hosted by Emily Witt - and the excerpt has to relate to the date in some way. For links to other fabulous authors' WIPpets, visit: http://www.inlinkz.com/wpview.php?id=355404

Saturday, January 14, 2017

Reunions: the never-ending WIP. Sigh. Today, the word count stands at 173,100. It’s a mess, still not finished, but I do believe it’s getting there. That said, trying to find six sentences that make sense in isolation is getting a bit tricky.

Brief explanation:
George is thinking back to the verbal bullying he went through in high school.

Here's the snippet:

Of course it bothered him. He hated being gay first, everything else second. It was what he’d always loved about Josh; he wasn’t ‘gay George’ or ‘star footballer George’. To Josh, he was ‘just George’, and when Josh had taken on Suzie Tyler, it hadn’t been only for George’s sake. He’d given her hell on Shaunna’s behalf, and Kris’s, and Rob’s—the list was endless.

You make me brave.

* * * * *

Rainbow Snippets is a group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week to share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation (no spoilers please!).

In this group you'll find anything from romance and historical fiction to mystery and YA. The common thread is that every story's main character identifies as LGBTQ+. The snippets could range from zero flames to full-on sexytimes, anything goes content-wise. The only rule is snippets will be 6 sentences long–one for each color in the Pride flag.

WIPpet Context: This scene is from a few pages after last week’s WIPpet: Sean is in Derry with his son, Dylan. They’re spending Christmas with Sean’s mum and his older brother, Finn, who was in a serious car accident in his teens and has a long-term disability and (subsequent) painkiller addiction. Erin is Finn’s girlfriend, a nurse practitioner, whom Sean knew nothing about until she turned up with Finn for Christmas dinner. Finn has gone for a lie-down; Sean and Erin are finishing up from washing the dishes.

* * * * *

For as much as Sean hated what Finn had become, he tried not to hate him, to keep an open mind. Whenever he heard of a new pain treatment, Sean emailed the information to his old GP, who, as far as he knew, was still Finn’s GP. In a way, he supposed what he was doing—under the guise of a specialist sharing knowledge with his colleagues—was unethical, but it was nothing compared to what he suspected Finn and Erin were up to.

“What’s he taking these days? Still the oxycodone?”

Erin wiped the draining board down and wrung out the cloth before she turned his way with not a trace of the friendly warmth she had given off over dinner. “You’ll have to ask your brother.”

“Yes, of course.” Sean smiled and shrugged ‘silly me’, as if it hadn’t occurred to him that he was out of line. “Sorry. I…worry about him.”

“So do I.” Erin turned away from him again and hung the cloth over the tap. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re really asking me, Sean. I’ve been a nurse for twenty-two years, eight of those in a drug treatment centre.”

“Look, Erin…if it sounded like an accusation—”

“Aye, it did.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Trust me, I would never abuse my position or risk my job. I care about your brother, enough to want to see him on the mend. You know better than I that he won’t get there through the bottom of a bottle. So next time you’re throwing your weight around, Doctor Tierney, think on. Right…tea…” She picked up the kettle, but Sean took it from her.

“I really am sorry, Erin.”

She looked him dead in the eye for several seconds before she nodded, he hoped, in acceptance of his apology.

“I’ll leave it in your capable hands, go see if the eejit’s up to being sociable again.” She moved towards the kitchen door but waited for Sean to finish filling the kettle and turn off the tap. “For the record, I’m worried about him, too, because he’s getting something from somewhere, but I promise you, it’s not from me.”

* * * * *

What is WIPpet Wednesday?

WIPpet Wednesday is a blog hop where authors share from their current works in progress - expertly organised/hosted by Emily Witt - and the excerpt has to relate to the date in some way. For links to other fabulous authors' WIPpets, visit: http://www.inlinkz.com/wpview.php?id=355404

Sunday, January 08, 2017

I’m at a bit of a loss today. I’m still trying to…oh, I don’t know anymore, lol.Reunions is driving me nuts! So, I decided to step away from it for the purposes of this RainbowSnippet and go with something from the opening pages of Spread Your Wings (the opening pages being all I’ve written so far).

Brief explanation:Spread Your Wings is the sequel to Champagne—my first novel, originally published in 2004. I wrote it in the mid-1990s, which was a very different era in LGBTQ fiction, added to which, the story covers the first half of the 1980s. Spread Your Wings is set ten years later (1995-ish). Champagnedoesn’t have even so much as a ‘happy for now’ because, honestly, none of the characters deserved it.

Spoiler alert for anyone intending to read Champagne! (Highlight below to read synopsis.)Champagne tells the story of Sammy, a young man who goes to London in search of his abusive father and instead stumbles upon a seedy revue bar, where he promptly falls in love with Champagne, a drag queen (off-stage name Charles). Champagne is manipulative and an alcoholic. Frank is the son of ageing flamenco dancers who also perform at the revue bar. Also a dancer, Frank has been working in Spanish holiday resorts but returns to London for the close of the revue bar, which Sammy has bought with his inheritance from his grandmother. After Champagne emigrates to NYC, Sammy and Frank become lovers, but theirs is a destructive, violent relationship, and Sammy is still in love with Champagne. Three years later, when Champagne comes back onto the scene, their relationship is already at rock bottom, and Frank gives Sammy an ultimatum: it’s him or the club. At the same time, Champagne pleads with Sammy not to sell the club.

Sammy shifted his gaze from the coffee maker and over Frank, settling on the point of contact between Frank’s foot and the centre of a printed sunflower. The wallpaper was gaudy and outrageous; so, too, were the furnishings—yellow doors, white timber chairs with orange, red and yellow seats, a leaf-motif green and yellow tablecloth. In the midst of it all, Frank’s monochrome attire—black pants, white vest, bare feet—was vivid and powerful.

“I can’t recall who told me now. There were so many men.”

“At the club?” Sammy asked, seeking a clarification to strike out the double meaning of Frank’s words. Not an admission—Frank didn’t sleep around, or never used to—but another jab of the pain stick. Sammy deserved it.

* * * * *

Rainbow Snippets
is a group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a
week to share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished
work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation (no spoilers please!).

In this group you'll find anything from romance and historical fiction
to mystery and YA. The common thread is that every story's main
character identifies as LGBTQ+. The snippets could range from zero
flames to full-on sexytimes, anything goes content-wise. The only rule
is snippets will be 6 sentences long–one for each color in the Pride
flag.

Alas, Sean’s optimism was crushed when he heard the front door open, followed by the foreboding click of an aluminium crutch. A familiar cold sweat descended.

“Was your bathwater a bit on the hot side, Sean?” Finn limped into the kitchen and grinned at Dylan. “You’ve shrunk since I last saw ye.”

“All right, Finn?” Sean greeted neutrally and then was stunned to the point he muttered “Jaysus” by his brother’s embrace.

“I’m not bad at all.” Finn gave him a good, firm pat on the back and released him. “Yourself?”

“I’m grand. You’re looking well, Finn.”

Finn nodded noncommittally, but to Sean’s eyes, he looked healthier and happier than he had in a long while.

“So this is the nephew, then.”

“It is,” Sean confirmed even though they’d met before. The way Finn was eyeing Dylan, like he was an unidentfiable object, was as amusing as it was annoying.

“How you doing there, young man?” Finn set his crutch down and crouched with his bad leg stuck out to the side. He couldn’t quite get down to Dylan’s level, but the fact he was trying was a wonder in itself. “What is he now? Eighteen months?”

“Coming up on that, aye.”

Finn nodded and struggled, with a fair bit of grimacing, to stand upright again. Dylan was transfixed. Sean and his brother had never been alike to look at—they shared only the same thick, dark hair—but they sounded the same, even to their own mother. Or they used to. A quarter of a century across the Irish Sea had anglicised Sean’s accent, and he talked much slower these days. He had to or else his colleagues, patients and students didn’t have a clue what he was saying.

“Are you still off the booze?” Finn asked. He was en route to the fridge and pulled out two cans of beer.

“I am, I’m afraid.” Sean hated sounding so apologetic. He missed social drinking, and regretted having to turn down the first opportunity ever to have a drink with his brother, but kicking his addiction remained one of the greatest achievements of his life.

“Good man,” Finn said. He put one of the cans back without further comment and opened the other. Dylan startled at the noise and glared at Finn, who was swigging long from the can and didn’t notice until he moved it away from his face, at which point he held out the can to Dylan and said, “You’re a wee bit underage, so you are, but if you ask nicely…” He winked and got a half smile for his troubles.

* * * * *

What is WIPpet Wednesday?

WIPpet Wednesday is a blog hop where authors share from their current works in progress - expertly organised/hosted by Emily Witt - and the excerpt has to relate to the date in some way. For links to other fabulous authors' WIPpets, visit: http://www.inlinkz.com/wpview.php?id=355404

Monday, January 02, 2017

OK, I'm not going to rant as such, but I am going to make a number of points in this post that are powered by utter fury and frustration, but I'll do my best to remain objective and not shoot my mouth off.

Well, what a total bloody waste of time that was! Between Boxing Day (26th December) and 28th December, All Romance eBooks went kaput. I won't go into the nitty-gritty, but what I can tell you is the email I received on 28th December, announcing the closure of the site, offered to pay 10% of royalties owed to authors and publishers. Authors for whom ARE acted as publisher were offered their rights back, and I believe the deal was even worse for them. You can imagine the opinion I have and all that I want to say. It involves a lot of swearing, but onwards and upwards...sort of.

If you bought any of my books (or any other Beaten Track titles) from ARE and lost them in the shutdown, email shopATbeatentrackpublishing.com with screenshot/receipt for replacement copies.

2016 was a year of genre trouble for me (to put it mildly). I don't like genres. They're too restrictive to my creativity, and ultimately I'm writing stories because I want to. You, loveliest reader, should read them because you want to.

I went through the ever-repeating roundabout of the genre dilemma when I was writing The WAG and The Scoundrel. I know how to write a romance; I know how to write a crime mystery. But both have been done to death, and writing within these narrow confines bores me seneseless, so my choice was...

a) write the story (some) readers expect
b) write the story I want to write

Naturally, I always want to go with option b). It's more fun for me, even though it means fewer readers (potentially), but that's fine (see above, re. write/read if you want to) because I don't write for money (thank f**k, given the amount of plagiarism, theft and piracy).

However, as I've written a few books that are a much better fit for specific subgenres (i.e. M/M Romance), there are readers who come to my other stories with certain expectations (bonking menfolk, mostly), and when those expectations are not met...

Yep, the one-star review. Or two stars, if I'm lucky.

And I get it. I do. If I'd been looking forward to a 'crime mystery / gay romance' for a month only to find that's not what I was reading (although WAG has significant elements of both romance and crime mystery), I'd be disappointed too. But here's the rub: there are certain retailers (Amazon) who categorise books NOT according to the categories authors/publishers select, but according to a combination of text analysis of the ebook file, the blurb and the keywords.

The result is that Of The Bauble - a young adult fantasy romance - ended up in 'Children's books - Magic' and I spent several days switching keywords until it finally stuck as a young adult fantasy romance. The WAG and The Scoundrel- listed by me as contemporary fiction / LGBT romance - landed in gay romance / crime thriller.

Add to this that other retailers (Smashwords) don't have specific categories for some subgenres, while still others (iBooks) make demands that books be re-categorised (incorrectly) before they agree to list them...well, it's all a bit of a nightmare for both authors and readers.

We would do well to all work together and extend a little understanding to each other.

-- Here Endeth The Moaning --

The Good Stuff
There are readers who love my books - I know because they've taken the time to tell me so. We chat online (and sometimes face-to-face). They don't care about my disrespect of genres or how my work is categorised. They read what I write because they want to and they enjoy it. In the end, it is those readers who always matter most.

Thanks bunches - for reading, for reviewing, for saying 'hi'. You are wonderful! :)

What's Next?
There is so much I want to write this year, but I'm not going to tie myself up with deadlines and stress, so here's the tip of the iceberg.

I have 2017 plans for Gray Fisher. More than plans, I have a cover for Book Two! Oh, yes. I'll be starting work properly on the story in the next couple of months.

The title: Tabula Rasa.

The main characters from The WAG and The Scoundrel will be back: Gray, Rob, Will, Naomi, Aaron, dogs, rabbit, guinea pigs, parakeet, chickens etc. I have no idea what they're up to yet.

The Checking Him Out world - it's been odd not to visit Sol et al for a year, but he's still around.

I have the beginning of The Making of Us, which is Jesse and Leigh's story.

I also have half a story idea and a dodgy draft cover for Checking Him Out At Home, which is Sol and Adam doing what they do best (argue and shag).

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About Debbie McGowan

Author, publisher, social scientist. My academic specialism is gender and sexual politics and identity, so you can expect this to crop up now and then in my writing too! Not in an "in your face" kind of way - subtlety wins hearts and minds.

I write character-based/driven fiction - mostly general/contemporary, some (M/M, F/M, N-B) romance and a bit of sci-fi fantasy (light). Basically, I write about life. I've written a few stand alone novels and short stories, but my main work is the Hiding Behind The Couch series, which these days I'm referring to as a literary soap opera.

I also run a socialist (profit share) independent publishing company: Beaten Track Publishing.